<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>strong are the threads by gracieli</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25746937">strong are the threads</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracieli/pseuds/gracieli'>gracieli</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Buck and Eddie Say Fuck Toxic Masculinity, Buckley-Diaz family, Christopher Diaz is a National Treasure, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Soft Eddie Diaz, Soft Evan "Buck" Buckley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:21:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,592</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25746937</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracieli/pseuds/gracieli</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Christopher returns home from summer camp with the absolute conviction that friendship bracelets are a requirement for every friendship and insists that Eddie makes one for Buck.</p><p>Eddie’s never been good at denying his son much of anything, so he does just that.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Christopher Diaz &amp; Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley &amp; Christopher Diaz &amp; Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley &amp; Christopher Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>517</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>strong are the threads</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>title is from Kate Wolf's "Slender Thread"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eddie is beyond thrilled and relieved - it’s been two weeks since he’s seen his son but he’s finally back from summer camp. He’s driving Christopher home and his son is telling him about a “top-secret” club that he had formed with some of his camp friends (though Eddie wonders how top secret it really is if Chris is <em> already </em> talking about it) when he interrupts himself in the middle of his own sentence. </p><p>“Oh yeah and dad, look - look!”</p><p>Eddie does, once they’re stopped at a light, and it’s hard to miss the red and green woven bracelet wrapped around Christopher’s wrist, which Chris is practically waving in his face. </p><p>“Woah, cool bracelet, bud. Did you make that at camp?”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s a friendship bracelet! Maria made this one for me and I made one for Anthony, Isabel, and Allison and then one for you and Buck, but I made it extra special for Buck because he’s my best friend and you have to make it special for your best friend.”</p><p>“Definitely,” he agrees, “Buck is gonna love it.” </p><p>This he knows for a fact. Buck would love <em> anything </em>Chris made for him. The card Christopher made for Buck when he first got recertified is still hanging up on Buck’s fridge over a year later and Eddie is confident that Chris could scribble on some paper and Buck would treat it as the contemporary equivalent of the Mona Lisa. </p><p>Chris interrupts his thoughts and excitedly says, “Dad, you should make one for Buck!”</p><p>“Hmm, you think?” Eddie asks a bit distractedly as he turns onto their street. </p><p>Christopher nods enthusiastically and says with all of the conviction in the world, “He’s your best friend, so you should make him one.”</p><p>They pull into the driveway and Eddie parks the car as he laughs gently, “While that sounds nice, you know I’m no good with things like that, Chris. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy with yours.”</p><p>He hops out of the car and opens Christopher’s door, helping him climb out.</p><p>“Dad, you have to.” Christopher pouts up at him and Eddie has to smile in spite of his son’s seriousness. For someone who didn’t even know about friendship bracelets two weeks ago, Christopher seems to be absolutely convinced of their necessity. </p><p>Eddie reaches into the back seat to grab Christopher’s bag and when he turns back, Chris is still standing by the car, refusing to budge in ways more than one. </p><p>“It’s really easy, I promise. Even you can do it,” he teases, quickly breaking into a grin that is somehow both adorable and smug. It’s obvious he says this with the intention of riling up his dad, and Eddie doesn’t disappoint. </p><p>“Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?” Eddie says playfully, lifting his son up and spinning him around. Christopher throws his head back in laughter and shrieks happily. </p><p>“Here I was all these weeks, missing my only son, just for him to trash talk me the moment he gets back,” Eddie says dramatically and feigning hurt as he carries Chris the rest of the way into the house. </p><p>Christopher can barely talk through his giggles. “You’re silly, dad.” </p><p>Eddie settles him on the couch with an exaggerated noise and Christopher doesn’t take a moment to breathe before he’s already back on the original subject. </p><p>“So can we start on the bracelet tomorrow? I still have a bunch of yarn in my bag.”</p><p>Eddie’s gotta give it to his kid - he definitely knows how to close a deal. </p><p>“Alright, alright, we’ll do it tomorrow.”</p><p>And it’s as simple as that. Eddie has never been great at denying Christopher much of anything, so he gives in as easily as he always does. </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>A week passes and if Eddie wasn’t already aware that he somehow raised a clever and perhaps slightly manipulative kid, he knows this for a fact now. Making the friendship bracelet <em> was </em>hard and admittedly a bit above Eddie’s skillset, which he thinks Christopher definitely knew when he first suggested it. Even so, he couldn’t find it in himself to be annoyed with Christopher because despite his complaining, a part of him really did enjoy making the bracelet for Buck as Chris enthusiastically talked him through it. </p><p>Once he got over the initial hump of learning the different knots, it was actually kind of relaxing. Eddie’s never really made anything for anyone with his own hands in his adult life and there’s something nice about the idea of doing this for his best friend.</p><p>The truth is that he doesn’t think he would do this for anyone besides Buck. Eddie’s never really had a best friend before, not until that day he and Buck removed a live grenade from a patient’s leg and promised to have each other’s backs. And even though it feels somewhat childish, there’s something to be said for having an actual best friend, someone who is your person as much as you are theirs. It heals the aches and scars collected over a lifetime of feeling like he would always have to struggle against the world alone, that he would never be truly understood or seen by anyone else. He can never fully express how grateful he is for Buck, but a poorly made friendship bracelet would have to suffice. </p><p>It kind of <em> has </em>to, because Eddie knows that he’s bad with words and so he tries to make up for it, really. He makes Buck his emergency contact, he gives Buck a key to his house, he invites Buck to almost every excursion he takes with Christopher - he’ll do anything besides say the actual words to prove his love and loyalty to Buck. Despite all of this, Buck still struggles to understand that Eddie is a permanent fixture in his life, that he won’t leave like everyone else seems to. So if making him a friendship bracelet is what it takes to further show Buck how important he is to him, then so be it. He’d rather make an idiot of himself with this mediocre gift than for Buck to doubt how much Eddie cares for him.  </p><p>Even so, this doesn’t entirely erase the anxiety he feels about having to actually give Buck the bracelet. It was cute when Christopher gave Buck his bracelet a few days ago because Christopher is adorable and a <em> child</em>, but Eddie is a grown adult giving his friend something that is mostly made by elementary schoolers, and he’s not sure that he’ll be shown the same enthusiasm. </p><p>So while it doesn’t even take more than a few hours to make the bracelet, it takes Eddie about a week to gather the courage just to place it in his work bag. </p><p>They’re changing for their shift one afternoon when Eddie spots the bracelet sitting at the bottom of his bag and figures that there’s no time like the present. He’s pretty confident that if he doesn’t do it now, he’ll lose his nerve and the bracelet will just sit in his bag for months, so he pulls it out and hands it to Buck. </p><p>“This is for you.” Eddie says casually, or at least tries to. </p><p>Buck takes it from him, glancing at him curiously. “What is this?”</p><p>Eddie explains, “Chris was appalled at the idea that you’re my best friend and I hadn’t <em> already </em>made you a friendship bracelet, so I figured I might as well.” </p><p>Buck doesn’t seem to actually be listening to him, just smooths his fingers over the blue and yellow bracelet and Eddie really doesn’t know what to make of that, so he tries to backtrack. </p><p>“You don’t actually have to wear it, you know. I know it kind of looks like a kindergartener made it.” </p><p>Buck finally looks up and Eddie immediately decides that any embarrassment or anxiety he had about making the bracelet for Buck was worth this, worth the twinkle of joy that seems to light up Buck’s eyes and which fills Eddie with a certain warmth. </p><p>“Eddie, I love it. Really.” </p><p>And Eddie believes him, somehow knows that Buck understands everything he wants to say but can't, everything the bracelet means. </p><p>While Eddie’s never really understood what it’s like to have a best friend and receive something as simple as a friendship bracelet, Buck’s reaction seems to confirm that the same is true for him. Frankly, Eddie always got the impression that Buck’s life before the 118 was incredibly lonely and it just makes him all the more grateful that they found each other. </p><p>“Hold up,” Buck says before he quickly turns away from Eddie. He begins to fish through his duffel bag until he pulls out two friendship bracelets: one with an intricate yellow, red and orange design and the other with a dark green, blue and white pattern. </p><p>“I may have made one for you and Chris after he gave me mine a few days ago,” he grins sheepishly, “I couldn’t leave him hanging and you’re alright too, I guess.” </p><p>Eddie swats him playfully on the shoulder and rolls his eyes. “Well in <em> that </em> case, I guess I’ll wear it.” </p><p>After that, they fall into an easy conversation about how Christopher tried to talk Eddie into letting him have cookies for breakfast, and they carry on with the rest of their day. They don't say anything else about the friendship bracelets and they don't need to. From that day on, the three of them are never seen without their matching bracelets, and it feels like a promise. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i'm not sure how i feel about how this one turned out but i hope you guys enjoyed it! </p><p>i'm @gracieli on tumblr if anyone wants to say hi!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>